I Hope You Dance
by Frizzy Izzy
Summary: Growing up is hard to do, but it can be even harder when you're a Tracy. This is a story about the three youngest Tracys one OC and one exciting weekend.


Jeff watched from the doorway, careful to not reflect in the mirrors. He noticed once again how much she had grown. From the moment he had held his baby girl in his arms, he had known that not much else in life mattered compared to her. Jessica Lucille Tracy had changed his life forever, and ever since that moment, she'd been constantly changing it.

Whether it was her brief rebellious stage a few months ago (which, yes, included a piercing he didn't approve of) or moments of wisdom, or her constant state of compassion, he didn't know- but something special had always set her apart.

Seeing her dance was his favorite pastime, much like he loved to watch Virgil play the piano, or Gordon swim. This is where she shines loudest.

Jessie was mid-air; she spent most of her modern dance routines this way. Jeff couldn't tell you the correct dance-term, all he knew was that she was always flawless, and he was proud.

Jessie's deep brown air was falling in wisps in front of her face, but she didn't care; she was too deep into the song. Jeff could tell from the moment that he stopped to look, in fact, he'd been standing there for almost ten minutes, but she hadn't noticed yet.

Reflecting on her poise, he recalled when Jessie had first decided she wanted to dance.

"_Daddy…"_ _A small seven-year-old girl whispered. Jeff had been on video-call, in an unofficial meeting when she had interrupted. _

"_Jessica, you know you shouldn't interrupt adults." He reprimanded. But then he noticed her soft brown eyes clouding with tears. His tone softened with her eyes, "Honey, can't this wait?" _

"_Daddy, Mommy told me to dance in my dream last night. She was there." Her voice whispered again, this time adamantly. _

Jeff had never been so humbled then at the moment with his little girl. He had immediately stopped his call to simply hug her. But, that had been nearly ten years ago and now that little seven-year-old was about to turn a very-adult seventeen.

"_Man, time does fly…"_ Jeff thought to himself. He closed his eyes as the music changed to something soft. His brain instantly registered the sweet-moving song; this had been Lucy's favorite song to dance too.

He had met Lucy as a freshman at Kansas State University. She had been given a dance scholarship for ballet, while he had one to pursue aeronautics. From the instant they met in freshmen English, they knew a love more beautiful than anyone could ever describe.

In part, he loved watching his only daughter dance because it was like watching his late-wife dance. Though Jessica looked like him, dark hair with dark eyes, she certainly moved like her fair-haired mother.

"Hey Dad, Brains wanted me to tell you that he's finished with the diagnostics for Tracy One." Jeff's oldest, Scott informed him. Nodding his acknowledgement, Jeff's eyes never left his daughter.

"She's growing-up, huh?" Scott mentioned, leaning against the doorway while crossing his arms.

"You all are." Jeff replied laconically, his eyes still focused on her.

Jessica was Scott's only little sister and for the most part, Scott intended to keep her 'little' forever (though lately it was proving to be a more difficult task than he had expected).

Jessie was preparing for the end of her junior year in high school. She only had two more weeks left. The only reason she was even home was to prepare for her final exams. Gordon was home also preparing for his finals, though he only had a week left of school since he was a senior. His youngest, Alan, was only home for Memorial Day weekend, and had to return to school Sunday night, and had made everyone know how unjustifiable that was. Though everyone told him that as a 7th grader, he didn't really have to worry about finals, so he didn't need the week off to study; of course, in his fierce stubbornness, he didn't care.

Jessica stopped dancing as the music stopped. Turning to grab her water bottle, she noticed her father and oldest brother for the first time.

"Hey now, don't be creepers." She laughed, wiping drips of sweat from her forehead.

"Well, it's about time for dinner anyways," Jeff chuckled while checking his wristwatch. "And you know how John gets about tardiness…" Though John was the most patient and calm of the Tracy clan, he still had ways to make the others learn a lesson.

Needless to say that last time they were late to dinner when it was his night to cook was enough to never make them want to be late again.

Laughing, the threesome left the dance room, Scott, a younger version of Jeff, and Jessie, the younger girl version.

"So, how's practice going?" Scott asked, though from having watching her knew it had gone pretty well.

Jess groaned, "I keep messing up on the triplet right after the movement pick-up in the third song. I can't do them fast enough."

"Well, I couldn't even tell." Jeff shrugged.

"Yeah, well however sweet that is, Ms. Benedetto's going to know."

"You're just too much of perfectionist for your own good," Scott inserted, while fake-punching his sister on the arm.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wonder where in the world I get them from?" Jessie said sarcastically while staring down her brother and father.

Laughing once again, the three parted as they went off to get ready for dinner.

"Hey! That one's mine! I called it, like, forever ago!" Gordon shouted at Virgil. Virgil had been grabbing the biggest steak from the center plate.

"Well, I'm older, so I need it more." Virgil replied sharply, placing the meat on his own plate.

"Actually, this steak is mine." Scott said seriously, while reaching his fork over to his little brother's plate, and then placing the food unto his own plate.

"Hey! you can't do that!" The nineteen-year-old cried.

"Yeah, if I can't have it, neither can you." Gordon mumbled, satisfied that his pilfering brother had seen justice.

"Boys." Jeff reprimanded, looking at this quarrelsome children. Motioning for Scott's plate, Scott obeyed, though not happily, giving his father the big slab of meat.

"You know, you don't need to eat all of that meat." Jessie piped in, directing the comment to her father. "All that red meat isn't good for your heart."

"-says the vegetarian." Gordon coughed. Ignoring his comment, Jessie eyed her usually loud little brother.

Elbowing her father, she pointed out Alan's muteness.

"Al, anything on your mind?" Jeff asked, as he scooped corn onto his plate.

Tightening his face as to not burst out laughing, he shook his blonde head vivaciously.

"Alan," Gordon whispered, turning his head to his only younger brother, "don't! Play it cool."

Hearing this, Virgil went wide-eyed. "Oh no, the Terrible Two did something!" This was certainly an alarm that registered quite loudly. The two biggest pranksters could have done anything, to anyone.

"We did not!" Gordon cried, stuffing his face with food, now he was trying to keep from laughing. "Alan! Look at what you made me do!"

"Alan, buddy, if you tell us now, we'll grant you amnesty." John coaxed. He didn't want to fall victim to a crime from both Gordon and Alan- now that would be a serious prank.

"What does that mean?" Alan chuckled, his face turning red from his straining.

"It means that if you tell us what you two did, we'll only hurt Gordo." Jessica explained.

"Wait! That's not fair!" Gordon called from his end of the table. "Why does he get the offer?"

"Because we have a better chance of breaking him." Scott shrugged.

"Al, don't do it!" Gordon grabbed his little brother's shoulders. "Think of how funny it'll be!"

The table was tense for a few moments, as they all watched Alan. They could practically hear him thinking. The only one who kept eating was Jeff, but that's because he had nothing to worry about. The last time Gordon had pranked Jeff, he had gotten a punishment so bad that he would never pull a joke on his father again; Jeff had made sure of it.

"You know, Gords right." Alan said simply, while picking up his fork again.

In unison, the others groaned. This wasn't good.

Gordon high-fived his little brother.

"Plus, I don't want to go to war with Gordon." Alan added. "I'm not sure I could win that one."

"Well, if you guys pranked me, you'll never see the light of day again." Scott warned, eyeing his baby brothers.

**A/N: Uh-oh. It looks like someone's not going to be too happy. Tune in next time to see who get's pranked and who get's even. ;) **

**-Frizzy Izzy**

**P.S: Review please! This chapter was really slow-paced, but I wanted to introduce the characters well. **


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